<h3>Chapter 1: Introduction</h3>
<p><strong>UNIX file structure</strong></p>
<p>
LPMuds use basic UNIX commands and its file structure. If you
know UNIX commands already, then note (with a few exceptions)
options are not available to the commands. Like DOS, UNIX is hierarchical.
The root directory of which all directories are sub-directories
is called root(/). And from those sub-directories you may have
further sub-directories. A directory may be referred to in two
different ways:
<ol>
<li>by its full name, or absolute name, or
<li>by its relative name.
</ol>
</p>
<p>
Absolute name refers to the directory's full path starting from
/ winding down the directory tree until you name the directory
in question. For example:
<blockquote>
/players/descartes/obj/monster
</blockquote>
refers to the directory monster which is a sub-directory of obj
which is a sub-directory of descartes which is a sub-directory
of players which is a sudirectory of /.
</p>
<p>
The relative name refers to the name relative to another directory.  The
above example is called monster relative to /players/descartes/obj, but it is
also called obj/monster relative to /players/descartes, descartes/obj/monster
relative to /players, and finally players/descartes/obj/monster relative to
/. You can tell the difference between absolute names and relative names
because absolute names always start with /.  In order to know exactly which
directory is being named by a relative name, you naturally must know what
directory it is relative to.  A directory contains sub-directories and
files. LPMuds only use text files inside the mudlib. Like directories, files
have both absolute and relative names. The most basic relative name is often
referred to as the file name, with the rest of the absolute name being referred
to as the path. So, for the file: /players/descartes/castle.c, castle.c is the
file name, and /players/descartes is the path.
</p>
<p>
On some muds, a file with a file name beginning with a . (like .plan) is
not visible when you list files with the regular file listing command.
</p>
<hr size="1">
<p><strong>UNIX Commands</strong></p>
<p>
Along with the UNIX file structure, LPMuds use many UNIX commands.
Typical UNIX commands on most muds are:
<blockquote>
pwd, cd, ls, rm, mv, cp, mkdir, rmdir, more, head, cat, ed
</blockquote>
If you have never before seen UNIX commands, you probably are
thinking this is all nonsense. Well, it is, but you got to use
them. Before getting into what they mean though, first a discussion
of current directory. If you know DOS, then you know what a current
working directory is. At any given point, you are considered to
be &quot;in&quot; some directory. This means that any relative
file or directory names you give in UNIX commands are relative
to that directory. For example, if my current directory is /players/descartes
and I type &quot;ed castle.c&quot; (ed is the command to edit),
then it assumes I mean the file /players/descartes/castle.c
<p>
pwd: shows you your current working directory
</p>
<p>
cd: changes your current working directory. You may give either
relative or absolute path names. With no arguments, it changes
to your home directory.
</p>
<p>
ls: lists all files in the directory named. If no directory is
named, it lists the files of the current working directory
</p>
<p>
rm: deletes the file named
</p>
<p>
mv: renames the file named
</p>
<p>
cp: copies the file named
</p>
<p>
mkdir: makes a new directory
</p>
<p>
rmdir: deletes a directory. All files must have been first removed.
more: pages the file named so that the file appears on your screen
one page at a time. cat: shows the whole file to you at once head:
shows you the first several lines of a file tail: shows you the
last several lines of a file
</p>
<p>
ed: allows you to edit a file using the mud editor
</p>
<p><strong>Chapter Summary</strong></p>
<p>UNIX uses a hierarchical file structure with the root of the tree being named
/. Other directories branch off from that root directory and in turn have their
own sub-directories. All directories may contain directories and files. Directories
and files are referred to either by their absolute name, which always begins
with /, or by their relative name which gives the file's name relative to a
particular directory. In order to get around in the UNIX files structure, you
have the typical UNIX commands for listing files, your current directory, etc.
On your mud, all of the above commands should have detailed help commands to
help you explore exactly what they do. In addition, there should be a very detailed
file on your mud's editor. If you are unfamiliar with ed, you should go over
this convoluted file.
</p>
